Cirie Fields was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. She attended St. Francis Nursing School in New Castle, Pennsylvania, where she earned her nursing degree. She currently works as an operating room nurse. Her previous occupations include surgical technician, home health aid, working at a candy factory and telemarketing. Fields' proudest accomplishment was becoming a nurse. Her mother is her hero because she raised six kids with nothing and taught her kids many life skills.

Fields swims regularly. Her favorite sports include running and working with a personal trainer. She loves amusement park rides and watching television. She describes herself as funny, charismatic and compassionate. She believes she will be a useful member of the tribe because she is very strong. Fields' skills include the ability to fish, cook and do some carpentry. She believes she will be the Sole Survivor because people love her cute, smiling personality. Her primary motivation for being on the show is to win and to change her family's life. She is proud of the fact that she was disciplined enough to lose 30 pounds once she learned she would be a castaway on the show.

Fields currently resides in Walterboro, South Carolina. She recently married Clarencio and has three sons from a previous marriage. They have one dog, Sam. Her birth date is July 18, 1970.

Cirie Fields, an operating room nurse from Walterboro, will be in a national TV spotlight when the 12th edition of "Survivor" debuts at 9 p.m. Feb. 2 on WCSC-TV.

On Monday, CBS announced the 16 new contestants on the show, including Fields, 35, and Ruth Marie Milliman, 48, of Greenville, director of retail leasing at a shopping center.

Ann Jonason, director of nursing at Colleton Medical Center, described Fields as an excellent nurse and a delightful person with a big smile.

"We're thrilled about it. We didn't know she was so talented," Jonason said.

Fields and her husband, Clarencio, recently married, and she has three children from a previous marriage, according to the show's Web site.

Contestants are not allowed to talk, even with family, about what happens to them on the show until after their fate on the program is publicly known.

"It's all top secret," Jonason said.

Fields will be competing as a member of one of four tribes - Older Men, Older Women, Younger Men and Younger Women - in the show dubbed "Survivor: Panama - Exile Island."

At least one castaway each episode will be banished to Exile Island, which is miles away from camp. While being separated from the tribe is not desirable, the castaways will learn that there is a hidden immunity idol somewhere on Exile Island. If found, this immunity idol could save an individual from being voted out at a future Tribal Council.

Fields is not the first South Carolina woman to compete on "Survivor." JoAnna Ward of Orangeburg was a contestant in "Survivor: The Amazon" in 2003.

http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=64529&section=localnews

puddin:
S.C. contestants survive, with only one a happy camper

The State - 2.6.06

It looked as if the game might end in the first 60 minutes for one of the two South Carolinians competing on this season’s “Survivor.”

Walterboro nurse Cirie Fields admitted she was a couch potato and appeared miffed that she was grouped with the “Older Women” on Thursday’s premiere of “Survivor Exile Island.” So when her tribe lost the immunity challenge and the vote came, Cirie looked like a goner.

Instead, her tribe — which also includes Greenville’s Ruth Marie Milliman — booted off Tina, seemingly their most competent member. Go figure.

Without Tina, the older women appear to have made next week even tougher for themselves as they go against the other three teams.

Ruth Marie, meanwhile, had a good week, helping the older women finish in the first reward challenge.

Best quote, from Tina on why she would vote against Cirie): “Cirie, your fear of leaves was my biggest factor.”

From Tina, on being voted off: “I hope they do terribly. I was just with the wrong girls.”

Next week: Older-men tribe member Shane gave up his three-pack-a-day cigarette habit to be on “Survivor” and says he misses the habit. No kidding. He and Cirie seem surprised at where they find themselves — as if they had auditioned for “The Price Is Right” and were hijacked to the wrong show.

— Pat Berman

http://www.survivorfever.net/s12_the_state_2_6.html

puddin:
Jersey City native one of the contestants duking it out on popular reality series

The Jersey Journal

Monday, February 27, 2006 Watch out, Jersey City. If you see a woman heading your way showing off a flier that displays her daughter's photo, that's just Tina Fields.

She's harmless but off-the-hook crazy about Cirie, one of her six grown children.

"I'm a one-woman army telling everybody in Jersey City about my girl," Tina Fields brags, noting that she has urged all nationalities, from the Puerto Ricans to Italians, to tune in and watch her African-American daughter on television.

On CBS' "Survivor: Panama," Cirie Fields, a 35-year-old Jersey City native who now resides in South Carolina, stands out for her strength and steely resolve.

Her mother says Cirie has always been a tough customer.

"She was strong willed as a child," Tina Fields says. "She was strong minded about what she wanted to do and didn't want to do. But she was always willing to listen to what you had to say, whether it came from me or her brothers and sisters. She was always willing to learn."

Nonetheless, Tina Fields says it still shocks her that Cirie wanted to be a "Survivor."

"It seems like such a hard show to do," she says. "I've watched it for years and know that I couldn't do it. I think she's doing really well so far."

Because of her contract with the show, Cirie Fields wasn't able to comment for this story but her mother says she has shared some reflections about her time on the series, which was taped.

"She's real close mouthed about it so we honor that and understand," Tina Fields says. "But she did say that she thinks the world of Jeff Probst (the show's host) and that people on the show were very nice."

Gina Gates, one of Cirie Fields' closest friends, says the main engine driving Cirie's decision to try out for "Survivor" was a desire to help out her family.

"Although her family isn't stressed over money, she is determined to help out financially," says Gates, who still resides in Jersey City. "If she wins the money, she just wants to give everybody something to be happy."

Tina Fields says she truly appreciates Cirie's efforts.

"I'm happy that she thinks that much of her family but that's a big burden for someone to put yourself through this," she says. "Win, lose or draw, I'll never forget that she did this."

Cirie, who works as a registered nurse at a hospital in Waltersboro, S.C., attended School 24 on Virginia Avenue as a youngster. Then she moved on to graduate from Lincoln High School.

She worked for a while as a home health aide in Jersey City before moving to Ohio to attend a surgical technical school. The next step for the mother of three sons was to finish nursing school at St. Francis, a medical institution in Pennsylvania.

"After Cirie had kids, she said she wanted to do better with her life," says Tina Fields, who works as a home health aide for the Visiting Homemakers Service of Hudson County. "We told her whatever she wanted to do, she could do it. And she's done it and gone on to be a nurse."

One of Cirie's three sons, John, still lives in Jersey City with his father. He's a sophomore at Hudson Catholic High School here. Her other sons, Jarrett & Jamil, live with Cirie and her husband in South Carolina.

Cirie paid a recent visit to Jersey City but her longtime friend, Gina Gates, says they didn't do "all the crazy stuff" they used to do back in the day.

"Since we're both married mothers now, that's all null and void," she says. "But we always have big fun together anyway."

As for "Survivor," Gates believes her buddy can prevail over the others.

"I feel like it's her time," she says. "When she told me she was going to do it, I felt a positive charge about it."

And, of course, Cirie's No. 1 fan stands behind her all the way.

"I feel that Cirie has it in her to win," her mother says. "Whether she will, I don't know. Whatever the case, she's a winner with us. Ever since she was a little girl, people have always told me that Cirie has such a beautiful smile and charisma. They would tell me that all my girls were beautiful but 'there's something special about that Cirie."'

http://www.survivorfever.net/s12_jersey_journal_2_27.html

Bathfizzy:
I am very pleased that Cirie placed 4th. In the beginning, I thought for sure she was a goner. Then they started showing all her interviews on survivor and they were interesting and funny. I think Cirie won my heart over at the challenge when they were pushing contestants around to grab the bag. From them on I became her fan. I am so glad she won the car. She definitely deserves it. Her husband HB is so sweet--they make such a lovely couple. I think they should try out for the Amazing Race together. They would make a good team. Congrats again Cirie--good luck in whatever else you do. :jumpy: :woohoo: :) :)